Fictions and Facts about Parents and Parenting Older First-Time Entrants to Foster Care |
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| Authors: | Jacqueline Smith Anniglo Boone Ruby M Gourdine Annie W Brown |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Social Work, Howard University , Washington , District of Columbia , USA;2. Consortium for Child Welfare , Washington , District of Columbia , USA |
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| Abstract: | Knowledge about the parents of older first-time entrants into foster care is embedded in fictions created by media images, anecdotal stories of professionals in the child welfare system, as well as reports and observations of youths who have experienced foster care. Even though there are caring and effective nonrelatives who are foster parents, the public perception of non-relative foster parents is sometimes quite negative. In order to separate some of the facts from some of the fictions about the parents/caregivers of older first-time entrants to foster care, this article will describe the parents and relative caregivers (grandparents and others) of older first-time entrants to foster care in an urban public welfare agency by examining maltreatment data. |
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| Keywords: | Older children in child welfare foster care caregivers child abuse child neglect grandparents parenting practices |
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